Johannesburg - The parents of the woman who allegedly kidnapped six-month-old Revelation Jones said they were asked to look after a baby while their daughter was on the run.
Speaking outside the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Monday, Abdul Khan and his wife Zohra Iqbal said Khadija Khan had arrived at their Mayfair, Joburg, home with a baby on Wednesday - a day after the police say she had abducted the child.
“She told us it was a Zimbabwean baby, that the father had beaten his wife and cut her tongue, and that there was so much blood in the room that she brought the baby to us,” said Iqbal.
“We told her to take the child to a social worker.”
When Khan and Iqbal refused to take care of the baby, Khadija left later on Wednesday.
The following day, the couple were shocked when they were told by relatives and friends that an identikit of her daughter had appeared on TV, and that she was being sought in connection with a kidnapping.
On Monday, Khadija and her boyfriend, Khalid Ayub, appeared in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on charges of kidnapping, robbery, attempted murder and extortion. This was their first appearance in court, after they were arrested on Thursday evening.
Revelation was retrieved from them unharmed during the arrest and returned to his parents.
Magistrate Lucas van der Schyff postponed their next appearance until Monday.
This is to allow investigators to check if Pakistani national Ayub is legally resident in South Africa and to confirm their addresses.
Khadija, who is apparently seven months pregnant, appeared calm in court, occasionally glancing behind her at her family.
She told her father that when she woke up on the day of the attack, Ayub was strangling nanny Veronica Kanda with a rope.
“He told her if you don’t do this, I will kill you too,” said Abdul. The couple have been together for six months, he said.
He added that Ayub was accused of stealing R18 000.
On Wednesday, the Jones couple received a ransom SMS demanding R100 000 for Revelation.
Khan and Ayub, and Khadija’s three youngest children - aged two to six - had been tenants in the Jones household since December 5, and had been struggling to pay the rent.
The Star